After leaving the Valley with $1 billion in his pocket following the sale the Arizona Coyotes earlier this year, Alex Meruelo is looking to double his investment on the sprawling Paradise Valley mansion that he and his wife Liset purchased in 2021.

The Meruelos have listed their gated property that sits on 9.14 acres and overlooks Camelback Mountain for $28.9 million, more than twice the $12.1 million they paid three years ago when they purchased the residence from well-known Valley residents Rex and Ruth Maughan.

Rex Maughan is best known for founding Scottsdale-based Forever Living Products International Inc., which sold beauty products and nutritional supplements and saw its revenue surge above $1 billion in the 1990s .

Joan Levinson of Realty One Group, who sold the home to the Meruelos in 2021, has the listing for the property at 5185 N. Saguaro Road. The couple will now split their time between homes they own in California and Nevada.

The move to sell the estate comes about seven months after Meruelo was pushed by National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman to sell the Arizona NHL team to Smith Entertainment Group in Utah for $1 billion, after being unable to find a permanent home for the team in the Valley since he acquired the franchise in 2019 for about $400 million.

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Levinson said Liset Meruelo oversaw some extensive renovations in parts of the home, including the two full-size guest homes and the guest quarters in the main house.

Between the main residence and two casitas, the property has 13 bedrooms and 16 bathrooms. Some 70 olive trees line the lengthy, winding driveway leading to the main residence. In total, the property has more than 100 olive trees, 20 fruit trees and a 1,900-square-foot greenhouse.

The main home on the property dates back to 1972 and is nearly 15,000 square feet in size, including a two-story library. Levinson said the home has reclaimed wooden floors and beams from a disassembled barn in Pennsylvania, while its most striking feature is a 45-foot glass wall in the central hallway. The original living room fireplace was repurposed from stonework recovered from a burned-down cathedral in Mexico City.

The estate has a rich history with many famous owners over the years. The estate was originally owned by valley pioneers John C. and Helen Lincoln – think Lincoln Drive and John C. Lincoln Hospital. In turn the Lincolns sold the home to Gay Firestone Wray, the scion of the Firestone estate (yes, the auto tire empire) before it was acquired by the Maughans, and in turn, the Meruelos.

Land values on rise in Paradise Valley

Levinson said several factors have contributed to the asking price of just under $29 million, including the fact that land prices in Paradise Valley have surged in the past few years.

"It's also the estate with the largest piece of flat land in Paradise Valley, with most estates of six acres or more built into the side of the mountains," Levinson said. "It's in the most prestigious neighborhood in Paradise Valley and there's nothing else for sale like it."

Earlier this year, a new record was set for the most expensive home ever sold in Arizona. A newly built 15,516-square-foot mansion on five acres in Paradise Valley sold for $32.39 million . Also earlier this year, one of the few remaining prime chunks of land in Paradise Valley across 27 acres fetched $42 million . Levinson brokered that land sale.

After the sale of the Coyotes, Meruelo immediately turned his full attention to the billion-dollar arena and entertainment district project he is looking to build in Reno, Nevada. He still owns the American Hockey League's Tucson Roadrunners, which, for now, is the minor league affiliate of the NHL's Utah Hockey Club, but he has long-range plans to relocate the team to Reno when his new 10,000-seat basketball arena is completed.

Meruelo still owns other homes in Paradise Valley. When he bought the N. Saguaro Road mansion in 2021, he also purchased three other luxury homes for a total of $13 million. Meruelo's son, Alex Jr., who is running the Tucson minor league team, lives in one of two homes his father purchased three.years ago on N. Wilkinson Road. The other home he owns, according to Maricopa County records, is on N. 38th Place.